CHRIS PAUL led the Phoenix Suns into their first NBA Finals in 28 years, beating the Los Angeles Clippers 130-103 Wednesday night to close out the Western Conference finals in six games.

“I was on a don’t-lose mission,” Paul said. “Just a lot of emotion. A lot of things going on.”

Paul scored 41 points and Devin Booker added 22 to send the Suns to their third finals appearance in franchise history. They will face either the Atlanta Hawks or Milwaukee Bucks, who are tied 2-2 in the East finals.

“He was tired,” Suns coach Monty Williams said of Paul. “He was still making those kind of plays, getting to the basket, 3s, orchestrating everything.

“He has persevered through a lot — injuries, playoff heartbreak.”

Paul missed the first two games against the Clippers after testing positive for the coronavirus. He injured his shoulder in the first round against the Lakers.

“It’s been a lot, I’m telling you,” he said.

Paul reached the NBA Finals for the first time on the same Staples Center court where he helped bring the Clippers to respectability over six seasons that ended in 2017 without ever getting past the second round. The 36-year-old guard punished his old team with 31 points in the second half and tied his playoff career high of 41 — the same amount Paul George had in pushing the Clippers to a road win in Game 5.

“I’m just so happy for all the people around me,” Paul said on the court after the game, “and the Clippers are my family, too. These fans, Billy Crystal, that’s my family. This is a team I have the utmost respect for, I’ll always be a Clipper.

“But this group right here, this group right here,” he said, gesturing at his Suns teammates wearing NBA Finals hats.

“This is what we set out to get tonight, so we didn’t want to go back to Phoenix without it,” Booker said.

Phoenix is the first team to reach the NBA Finals after a 10-year playoff drought. The Suns had the league’s second-best record in this pandemic-interrupted season.

(SD-Agencies)